An image forming apparatus refers to an apparatus that prints an image on a printing medium. Broadly speaking, an image forming apparatus can be classified as a printer, a copying machine, a fax machine, a multi-function printer which has multiple functions of printing, scanning, copying and faxing, or the like.
An electrophotographic type image forming apparatus refers to a type of image forming apparatus that is particularly widely used and uses developer, such as e.g., toner to develop an electrostatic latent image into visible image. By way of a brief description, in a typical electrophotographic type image forming apparatus, a light is scanned on a photosensitive body previously charged to a predetermined electric potential to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive body, which electrostatic latent image is then developed with developer to form the visible image. The visible image formed on the photosensitive body may be directly transferred onto a printing medium, or in some cases may be transferred onto a printing medium via an intermediate transfer body. The image transferred onto the printing medium is fused to the printing medium through a fusing process to complete the image forming process.
In the image forming operations generally discussed above, the developer on the photosensitive body or the intermediate transfer body is not necessarily completely transferred onto the intermediate transfer body or the printing medium, and some portion of the developer may remain on the photosensitive body or the intermediate transfer body even after the transfer of the image. Such residual waste developer may be removed from the photosensitive body or the intermediate transfer body by the use of a cleaning device.
A cleaning device may include a cleaning member in frictional contact with a surface of the image carrier, such as, for example, a photosensitive body or an intermediate transfer body, to collect the residual developer on the surface of the image carrier.
The cleaning device may be replaceable, and to that end, may be provided so that it can be removed from the image forming apparatus.